Chief swaps traditions in battle for land rights

Pointed criticism ... Shawn A-in-chut Atleo at his graduation in Sydney. He is fighting to win a better deal for indigenous Canadians. Photo: Kate Geraghty

The chief of Canada's Ahousaht indigenous nation has doffed his ceremonial cap at the University of Technology, Sydney.

Shawn A-in-chut Atleo, 36, swapped his pointy cedar-bark whalers hat and sash for the flat of an academic motarboard at his graduation ceremony last week.

"I have full respect for the traditions of dress," Mr Atleo said, awarded a master of education in adult learning and global change.

The "beauty and difficulty" of change was captured on his sash; adorned with a "human undecided whether to become an eagle or a killer whale - it's a snapshot of transformation".

Mr Atleo was UTS's first student to complete its online course, which he worked on from his home on Flores Island, off Vancouver Island.

Education and change are subjects close to his heart. As well as being the 22nd hereditary Chief of the Ahousaht - which means people facing the open ocean - Mr Atleo is the co-chairman of the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council, a coalition of 14 indigenous tribes fighting for self-government.

The struggled has been a tense one, with one of the tribes, the Mohawks, involved in an armed stand-off with the Canadian Army in 1990 over land rights.

Mr Atleo fears militancy may be on the rise again. "Up to 50 per cent of aboriginal people in Canada are under the age of 30 and many are very frustrated."

Mr Atleo, himself, has used force to protect Ahousaht land and waters. "I have taken part in evictions of companies that did not consult us about using our territories," he said.

While natural resources must come under First indigenous control, Mr Atleo believed it was just as important that education and social services be aboriginalised.

"The education our people receives changes according to the whims of each government in our so-called elected democracy, but meanwhile suicide is rampant; alcoholism; family violence."

Aware of parallels with Australian Aboriginal history, Mr Atleo said indigenous activists worldwide had been thrilled by the 1992 Mabo decision recognising native title. "Decisions like that, or Maori victories, flash around the world."

The UTS masters program is offered jointly with universities in Sweden, South Africa and Canada, but Mr Atleo enrolled here because UTS was faster to process his application.

He said he hoped to visit "Aboriginal sacred sites and see some of the [tourist] sights" after his graduation.